A private ceremony April 8 brought together town officials, preservation leaders and members of the late Marjorie Merriweather Post’s family to rededicate a restored plaque honoring the longtime Palm Beach icon.
Despite steady rain, the ceremony took place on the Marjorie Merriweather Post Memorial Causeway — part of the recently renamed President Donald J. Trump Boulevard — as members of Post’s family gathered to honor the woman who in the 1920s built her palatial estate, Mar-a-Lago. The nearby mansion today is the centerpiece of Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago Club, his official residence.
The plaque, which had been removed March 12 by the town’s Public Works Department for refinishing, was formally rededicated during the ceremony.
“The family is very appreciative of this rededication,” Nina Rumbough, Post’s granddaughter, said in prepared remarks. “We would not want the memory and good deeds of Mrs. Post forgotten in Palm Beach.”
In addition to building Mar-a-Lago, Post was a pioneering cereal heiress, businesswoman and philanthropist whose contributions helped shape Palm Beach. Her legacy includes founding the private Bath & Tennis Club and supporting a muiltiple charitable causes.
The memorial honoring that legacy includes two tile-and-stone benches and a plaque on a stone base and accompanies the roadway, which was officially designated the Marjorie Merriweather Post Memorial Causeway in 1975.
The causeway is part of the 4-mile stretch of Southern Boulevard renamed by the Florida Legislature in Trump’s honor and extending from the coastal road by Mar-a-Lago on the east, to Palm Beach International Airport on the west. Trump accepted the new road markers during a Jan. 16 ceremony in the White and Gold Ballroom at the club. Gov. Ron DeSantis had signed the bill that authorized the renaming in June 2025.
Moore, who said she was a child when the plaque honoring Marjorie Merriweather Post was first dedicated, reflected on Post’s many contributions to the town.
“I’ve learned a lot in the last 50 years to have everybody know what a remarkable woman, philanthropist, mother, person and businesswoman Mrs. Post was,” Moore said. “It’s my honor to be the mayor of this amazing town and to welcome part of Mrs. Post’s family to be here today.”
Moore noted that her mother, former Palm Beach Mayor Lesly Smith, helped dedicate the original plaque in 1975 alongside Post’s daughter, the late actress Dina Merrill, and her late husband, actor Cliff Robertson. Smith attended the April 14 ceremony.
“I brought my mother, who did the original dedication,” Moore told the audience. “Wow, it’s just so exciting.”
Rumbough followed with remarks recalling her childhood at Mar-a-Lago and the influence of her grandparents.
“I spent much of my childhood in that incredible building that my grandparents built,” she said. “To me, it was like coming to a castle where all kinds of fun things happened. There were paths that went under streets where the land crabs lived, turrets where Rapunzel could let down her hair. Let’s not forget square dancing every week. How lucky was I to be able to experience what my grandparents envisioned back in the 1920s for this beautiful island.”
The plaque was first installed in 1975, and its reconstruction was handled by the original creator, Herpel Cast Stones & Column, a six-generation family business with long-standing ties to Mar-a-Lago, owner Frederick Herpel told the Daily News in 2023.
“In 1974 the caretaker of Mar-a-Lago, a high school friend of my father, invited us to participate in the restoration of Mar-a-Lago,” Herpel said. “Then, when the town decided to create the monument, the caretaker picked out stones left over from the original building, and we put together that original monument.”
Over the decades, the combination of time and nearby construction took a toll on the memorial. As part of the Southern Boulevard replacement bridge project, the monument was removed for refurbishment in 2022. The town again asked Herpel Cast Stones & Column to help honor Post’s legacy.
To ensure the refurbished memorial reflected the Mediterranean stylings of Mar-a-Lago, Herpel said, the stones were cast to match those used at the estate, and Tunisian tiles were hand-painted to replicate the original patterns.
“We’ve copied the exact stones for this restoration, to continue that legacy,” Herpel said.
Workers reinstalled the restored memorial in 2023.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach rededicates plaque honoring Marjorie Merriweather Post
Reporting by Jodie Wagner, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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